FORT COLLINS - The temptation is to say Tim Miles hit the ground running. But that would assume the feet of the new Colorado State basketball coach occasionally hit the ground.

Miles, who guided North Dakota State's transition from NCAA Division II to Division I, was announced as Dale Layer's replacement during an upbeat news conference Thursday.

If energy and verve win basketball games, CSU hired the right guy.

That will be known as time goes on, but Miles, 40, made a strong first impression in a room full of people conditioned to be skeptical about CSU basketball.

"He's always been energetic like that," said Miles' wife, Kari, who attended the news conference with one of the couple's two young children. "He can't stand still. He can't sit still. If he's not talking, he has to be moving. Basketball is Tim's passion. It's what he loves."

That was clear when Miles took the podium and embarked on an impassioned soliloquy about his plans to make CSU a perennial player in the Mountain West Conference and an annual contender for an NCAA Tournament berth.

"You don't understand how much this means to me," said Miles, who became emotional when he spoke about leaving the players he coached at North Dakota State. "I'm a goal-driven person, and we're going to do things the right way. My job is to establish a winning atmosphere.

"We're going to win on campus, we're going to win in the classroom, we're going to win in the community and we're going to win on the basketball court."

Miles forced his way onto national college basketball radar with wins at Marquette this season and at Wisconsin last season. He agreed to a five-year contract worth about $400,000 a year plus incentives.

That's about double what Layer was paid before the school bought out the final year of his contract.

North Dakota State, in its third year as a Division I independent, finished 20-8 this season. One of those losses was Dec. 18 at Moby Arena, an 82-80 Rams win.

"I liked the way his team competed, how he coached and interacted with the players when they played here," CSU athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said. "We wanted someone who strikes a chord with our fans and the community."

Miles believes, as do Kowalczyk and CSU president Larry Penley, that the Rams can become a consistent force. Kowalczyk and Penley outlined CSU's stepped-up resources for the program and said Miles is the perfect beneficiary of that financial push.

"He understands we expect him to win - not only in our conference but in March, to be in the (NCAA) tournament, where we are not today," Penley said.

Before North Dakota State, Miles led Southwest Minnesota State to back-to-back 20-win seasons. He will try to transform a program that has languished in the Mountain West since Layer took the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in 2003.

Miles turned down the North Carolina-Wilmington job last year. He will run a motion offense and a sticky, aggressive, man-to- man defense.

"We'll play hard and fast, and our players will compete," he said. "Floor burns go with the territory. Our players are going to give a lot of skin."

holtzr@RockyMountainNews.com